Google Can Teach Your Robot to Recognize You

Google is working on a new technology where your appliances, toys, and other technology gadgets would not only recognize you but would also recognize your mood. The article gives the example of a Roomba that is vacuuming around your feet and sees the scowl on your face. The Roomba would stop vacuuming as it realizes that right now is not the time for it to be vacuuming in that area.

I think this is extremely exciting technology and can lead to a whole slew of new apps and innovations. Amazon was recently applauded for their in home "personal robot" named Alexa who can control appliances in your home, tell you the news and the weather, and remind you of things. Imagine if Google came out with a similar product that could also identify your mood and suggest things based on that mood. In addition, imagine all of your technology could make these predictions and thus become more useful to you right when you need them without you having to lift a finger (or smile!).

Link: http://fortune.com/2015/12/02/google-vision-technology/

HBOGo Launches for Free on TCU Campus

I thought this was an interesting article about the ways that media companies are fighting for share of the digital streaming service business by targeting college students. At TCU, HBOGo is free for all students living in residence halls at no cost to the university or the students. HBO realized that the residence halls were already paying for a cable subscription for all of their residence halls. They then decided that, since the "bill" was already being paid for and most students were watching content on streaming services like Hulu and Netflix, they should extend this deal to the students there. I think this is a great marketing strategy by HBO to attract the exact demographic that is watching content mostly through streaming services. I think we will begin to see a lot more competitive pricing tactics by streaming services for networks and providers as more and more consumers go online to get their content. This is just the beginning of a new form of competitive marketing.

Link: https://www.tcu360.com/2015/11/hbo-go-launches-for-on-campus-students/

For the Future of Banking, It's All About the Apps

In this article, the author speaks about the migration of banking from branches to mobile platforms. It touches on some findings of a recent Bain study about the banking space. One insight is that consumers who interact with their banks largely through mobile or other digital devices are more loyal than those who interact in branches with their banks. I think this will be an interesting trend for advertisers and for banks with major partnerships such as Chase with the US Open and Citigroup with CitiField. How will these banks begin to transform how they present content and opportunities to their customers based on the shift to mobile? Will we see more geo-targeted deals from without our bank apps? Will we see more in-stadium experiences presented by our banks at partnership events like the US Open? I think the biggest key for banks is to determine how to make their apps more experiential for customers so they see it as more than a transactional app. For many consumers, they see their bank's mobile app as a quick way to deposit checks, check their account, or transfer money to family members. The banks need to figure out how to make the app more holistic and provide the same personalized touch that they current provide in branches. In addition, they need to figure out what to do with their branches. One option is to make them more digital and put in digital kiosks to replace staff. Another option is to minimize the store space and create more, smaller primarily digital locations that customers can go to if they need to. At the end of the day, the most important thing for banks to realize is that the banking environment is changing and if their app isn't on par with competitors they could lose customers.

Link: http://www.cnbc.com/2015/11/25/for-the-future-of-banking-its-all-about-the-apps.html

Facebook Makes Giving to Charities Easier

Facebook launched two new initiatives related to donating to charities on their platform this week. First, they have updated the "Donate" button on Facebook which encourages consumers to donate to causes that might be of interest to them or that their friends have donated to. In addition, they are piloting several new tools. First, they are allowing charities to show how far they are to reaching their goal in consumer posts about the charity donation they have made. Second, they are making the posts by donators more dynamic and allowing consumers to encourage friends to donate via their posts. Most importantly, they are now allowing consumers to donate within Facebook via Paypal. This would require/allow consumers to attach a credit card to their Facebook account. As with all changes Facebook makes, there are critics of this seemingly charitable effort on their part. First, many are saying that this is a ploy of theirs to encourage consumers to utilize their platform for e-commerce. The theory is that once a consumer has attached a credit card to their Facebook account, they will be incentivized to purchase other items through the platform. Second, many are saying that Facebook is trying to get consumers hooked on donating in this manner so that they can then charge charities a processing fee for consumers who donate via Facebook.
Overall, I think that it's an interesting way for Facebook to pilot and perfect their e-commerce platform through a good cause. It remains to be seen whether these adjustments will increase consumer donations via Facebook or elicit positive feedback from charities and consumers alike. One thing that is becoming clear is that nothing is safe from Facebook's internal testing!

Link: http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/facebooks-new-tools-make-it-easier-to-donate-money-track-fundraising/

Facebook launches Notify to flood your lock screen with breaking news

Facebook just launched an app called Notify. This app allows consumers to sign up for push notifications from their preferred publishers, like CNN and Comedy Central. They can sign up for as many or as few notifications as they want. The article speaks about how this app seems like something publishers want and readers likely don't. However, as publishers continue to struggle to bring viewers to their home pages to consume content, they are desperate to latch on to any hopeful idea that might get readers to reengage with their content. The article suggests that Facebook doesn't expect this app to be a success but it using it to test how they can adjust Facebook to better service consumers' news needs. I believe this is an example of a growing trend where brands and publishers are at the mercy of the mediums that deliver their content and connect them with consumers.

Link: http://www.theverge.com/2015/11/11/9714340/facebook-notify-news-app

Twitter Beyond 140: What it Could Mean for Brands

This article speaks about the recent debate within and outside of Twitter around whether or not they should do away with the 140 character limit in their posts. This change would allow brands to post longer form content which could appeal to certain consumers. The article points out that other media sites, such as Facebook, are partnering with news outlets to provide long form content to consumers. The concern is that Twitter might be left behind if they don't follow the trend and allow brands to expand their offerings on the platform. While the argument for expanding the 140 character limit might make sense with the current trends, a conflicting argument is around Twitter's brand identity. What truly differentiates Twitter and made it famous in the first place was its commitment to 140 characters--this allowed consumers, brands, and news outlets to communicate messages in a concise, clear way. You had to be thoughtful about the words you chose when you posted since you didn't have much space. I personally feel that removing the 140 character limit would be a huge mistake for Twitter to make. That word limit is part of their brands core identity. If you try to alter to adjust your core identity, you leave people wondering who you've become and what you stand for. While Twitter is feeling pressure from those who say that this is the only way for them to stay top of mind and in trend for consumers, it could very well be the straw that broke the camel's back for the already struggling company.

Link: http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/twitter-140-brands/301100/

City AM Becomes First UK Newspaper to Ban Ad Blocker Users

City AM is a widely referenced financial newspaper in the UK. It decided to run a trial to attempt to combat the recent rise in ad blocking technology. When you go to their site on Firefox web browsers, the site detects if you are using an ad blocker and then blurs out its content until you turn the ad blocker off. In our class, we have spoken a lot about the effects of ad blockers on the industry and whether we believe that consumers will pay for content in order not to have advertisements. I think City AM is betting that consumers will be more willing to deal with advertisements than pay for content. I think the way they are approaching this--by quietly rolling the concept out to only certain mediums and then checking the results before rolling it out more broadly--is a smart tactic. This move could very well annoy many people who go to the newspaper and drive them to a competitors site who is willing to let the consumers use ad blockers. I will be interested to see how this trial run goes for them and what the reaction is by consumers. If this trial ends up working out for City AM, I expected that we could see this sort of messaging rolled out by many online publications to combat the growing popularity of ad blockers.

Link: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/oct/20/city-am-ban-ad-blocker-users

Startups: R/GA Says If You Can't Beat Them, Join Them

This article gives an interesting overview of a large creative agency that is struggling to stay relevant in the world of start ups and the internet of things. R/GA has decided to create their own think tank and invest not only in the funding of start ups but also in their development through a mentorship program. What does R/GA get for all of their time, effort, and money? An equity stake in the startup as well as a little more credibility when it comes to establishing themselves as an agency that can help startups succeed.

It seems that a lot of companies are following this trend now where they invest in products and services that might have nothing to do with what their core brand does but it makes them seem more connected to their consumers and to the businesses they are trying to sell to. For instance, several years ago, Citigroup launched a hackathon titled the Citi Mobile Challenge. They go to different countries and open up their APIs for developers to come up with creative solutions in the banking space. It has been a major success for the company both in terms of gaining PR for being "cool and connected" with the younger, digital connected generation as well as from a business perspective to generate new, forward thinking ideas for the company.


LINK: http://adage.com/article/special-report-advertising-week-2015/startups-r-ga-beat-join/300632/

3 Trends That Will Shape the Future of Digital Marketing

This article speaks about three technology trends that are shaping the future of digital marketing.

The first trend is "The Internet of Things" which refers to physical objects that can connect and speak to one another over a network. The article speaks about how the IoT will affect things like consumer privacy as consumers will have more control over what data they keep private and what they choose to share out to brands and companies.

The second trend is Augmented Reality which the article states will have a strong effect on retail businesses. Already, we are seeing clothing companies experiment with augmented reality technology in order to show consumers how their clothes would look on without them ever having to enter the store. I believe there is a lot of potential for augmented reality to help revitalize the retail industry via digital marketing.

The third trend is Wearables. While the jury is still out on the Apple Watch, there is no doubt that wearables are a new frontier that many companies--from clothing companies to traditional technology companies--are investing in.


Link: http://tech.co/3-trends-will-shape-future-digital-marketing-2015-09 

Why Modern SEO Requires Almost No Technical Expertise

This article speaks about some of the topics we discussed in class around what makes a good SEO strategy. However, it brings up the provocative concept that we really have no understanding of SEO from a code level. Digital marketers and coders don't have access to Google's algorithm, which determines the articles that soar to the top and those that get lost on page 2. For that reason, digital marketers are basically flying blind when they pull together a basic SEO strategy as they have no technical understanding of how this strategy will play out.

I found this to be a very interesting concept as more and more technologically advanced codes and algorithms are introduced for companies to take advantage of. At the end of the day, a digital marketer at a company might be in charge of many ways that the company reaches out to consumers and interacts with them in their daily lives. However, they have no idea how they are reaching them-- they are heavily relying on the strength of the algorithm they have decided to put their marketing dollars behind. Unlike with TV, Print, or Radio, digital is still considered an ambiguous space to many marketers. Rather than invest the time to understand as much as they can in terms of the inner workings of the code behind their successful digital strategy, many marketers just take the results at face value. If the campaign does well, they invest more in that medium like a Google or Buzzfeed. If the campaign does poorly, they move on without any true understanding of the algorithm behind the performance. Overall, I found this to be both interesting and a little scary!


Article Link: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/248266

Using Human Communication To Unlock Your Digital Marketing Potential

"Using Human Communication to Unlock Your Digital Marketing Potential" speaks about the differences in how brand communicate and spread their marketing messages online given the sheer amount of technological mediums we have now to reach out to consumers. Sometimes brands forget that there are humans on the other side of that computer screen or iPhone.

The article begins by bringing up the concept of considering social media "followers" and those you are reaching out to online not as impressions or likes but as actual people. Then, consider how you would reach out to someone to spread information about your product or to excite them about your product or service.

Towards the end of the article, the author gives more general advice in how to create a compelling, strong marketing campaign both in general and online. One of the key points they bring up is the struggle brands have to remain relatable to their customers. A strategy that many brands have implemented, including Progressive with "Flo" and AT&T with "Lily", is to create a relatable, everyday character who communicates the brand's message in a way that's easy to understand by consumers and kind of quirky.

I would recommend reading this article as it provides a strong overview of a good marketing campaign and brings up several interesting points about how to remain human online.


Article Link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/miketempleman/2015/09/04/using-human-communication-to-unlock-your-digital-marketings-potential/